


The One Where Kevin Joins The Tennysons

by Worlds_Okayest_Speedster



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: F/M, M/M, OOC, Sorry Not Sorry, but not gwevin, platonic ben/kevin, probably, ships will also be added later, will add more characters as they appear - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6051478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Worlds_Okayest_Speedster/pseuds/Worlds_Okayest_Speedster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different turn on the Ben 10 series where Kevin, instead of going mad with power, decides to join the Tennysons on their road trip that summer.<br/>Will go through every season, although I will most likely skip some things in the series(probably because I haven't watched OS, Alien Force, and Ultimate Alien in a while, just Omniverse)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The One Where They Meet

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize ahead of time if this seems OOC, especially for Kevin.

He wasn’t inherently a troubling child.  It’s just when a child is kicked from his own home for accidentally setting the curtains on fire with powers he couldn’t control, living on the streets for years, and finally running away to New York where he quickly learned to survive is when they tend to go a little out of control.  A lot of the thugs on the street called him dangerous, even though they have years on the little eleven year old that roams the streets of New York City.  Anyone out on the streets knew who he was and tried to steer clear of him.  A handful tried to take him down, but quickly learned why this kid had dominance over the city.  He was powerful and intimidating when he needed to be.

 

His name is Kevin Levin.

 

Kevin wouldn’t say he was happy with his life on the streets of New York.  Sure, he had a really cool place to sleep in an abandoned subway station, and all the thugs knew better than to mess with him, but he felt like there was something missing in his life.  Everyday was the same.  There was never anything new going on in this city that he didn’t know about prior.  That is, until  _ they  _ showed up one fateful summer day.

 

At first glance, Kevin didn’t really care for the annoying red-headed girl.  Right now, he had his sights set on the brunette boy with the odd watch.  It seemed like the little family had a fight, considering the boy had stormed off into the arcade for some alone time.  Kevin followed once he was sure the girl was no longer watching, keeping an eye on the boy as he played a racing game.  He glanced over at one point and smirked slightly in amusement.  The poor kid picked the one game in the entire arcade that just ate up tokens and never let anyone play.  The kid tried to complain to one of the employees, but they brushed him off and went on their way.  Now was his time to strike.

 

“Yeah, it’s totally unfair, right?”  Success.  The boy jumped slightly and turned to look at him.  That’s when he noticed the boy’s bright, toxic green eyes.

 

“I know right?  Stupid game won’t give me back my token and that guy was no help.”

 

“Maybe I can help.”  Kevin placed a hand on the machine and sent a pulse of energy into it, causing all the tokens inside to come pouring out of the bottom.  The boy’s eyes went wide and a large grin split his face.

 

“Woah!  That’s so cool!  My name’s Ben!  Ben Tennyson!”  The boy, Ben, grinned at him and held out his hand.  Kevin smiled and took it, shaking it slightly.

 

“Kevin Levin.  It’s nice to meet you.”  He released his hand just as a shrill voice spoke up behind him.

 

“Ben!  You can’t take those!  They aren’t yours!”  Ben rolled his eyes at the girl and stuck his tongue out.

 

“Whatever, Gwen.  C’mon, Kevin, let’s go somewhere that doesn’t allow  _ dweebs _ inside.”  Unfortunately, as the two boys walked outside, Gwen followed.

 

“You really should apologize to Grandpa Max, Ben.  He’s really upset.”  Ben snorted and rolled his eyes again.

 

“Yeah, okay.  I’ll maybe do it later.”  Kevin smirked slightly and crossed his arms, shifting his weight to his other foot, hip jutting out slightly.  Gwen threw her hands up in frustration and stomped away.

 

“Sorry about my dweeb cousin.  I swear, she’s got something stuck up her butt.”  Kevin smiled and laughed softly, holding out his hand.

 

“C’mon, I’ll show you somewhere cool.  No dweebs allowed.”  Ben smiled back and gladly took his hand, allowing the older boy to lead him through the busy streets, Kevin releasing his hand to slide down the railing of the old staircase leading to his home in the subway.  Once at the bottom of the steps, Kevin turned and held out his arms.

 

“Welcome to my home!”  Ben looked around with wide eyes, a wide grin on his face.

 

“Kevin, this is amazing!  You live here?  Alone?”

 

“Yep!  Home sweet home.”  Ben grinned more as he walked around, observing everything in Kevin’s home.

 

“So like….where’s your family?  How come you live in a subway station instead of a house or apartment?”  Kevin frowned slightly and crossed his arms, looking off to the side.

 

“....My mom and step-dad kicked me out when I was younger….I ran off and came to live here….S’no big deal….”

 

“No big deal?!  Kevin, aren’t you lonely??”  The older boy shrugged.

 

“I guess.  Nothing that can be done about it, though.”

 

“Nothing?  Well….why don’t you come with us on our road trip?  It’ll be fun!”  The boy paused and glanced at the younger warily.

 

“....You sure that’s alright?  You’re grandpa won’t be upset you’re bringing some kid you picked up off the streets?”  Ben smiled and shook his head.

 

“I’m sure he won’t mind!  C’mon, I really should apologize.  I uh….accidentally got us kicked out of a really nice hotel.”  Kevin grinned slightly and chuckled.

 

“Alright, alright.  Let’s go find your grandpa so we can get this settled.”  Ben grinned widely and gladly followed Kevin back up to the streets, chatting with him happily as they searched for either Grandpa Max or Gwen.

 

“Ben!  There you are!  We’ve been looking all over for you!”  Kevin was unceremoniously shoved out of the way and to the ground as Gwen rushed over to her cousin.  He pouted slightly but blinked when the old man with her offered him a hand.

 

“Sorry about Gwen.  She just got a little excited, is all.”  Kevin smiled a bit and took his hand, allowing the man to help him to his feet.  He watched from off to the side as Ben apologized to whom he now knew was Grandpa Max.

 

“Oh, right!  Grandpa, can Kevin come with us on our road trip?”

 

“I dunno, Ben.  Doesn’t have he have a family to get back to?”  Ben shook his head.

 

“No, he told me he got kicked out, so he ran away to here.”  Max sighed and glanced between Ben’s pleading look and Kevin’s slightly wary and pleading face.

 

“Alright, he can come.  Let’s head back inside the Rust Bucket.  Gwen and I grabbed lunch while you were gone.”  Ben grinned and led Kevin inside the old RV where bags of fast food were waiting.

 

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get anything for you, Kevin.”  The boy shook his head slightly and smiled.

 

“That’s okay.  I’ll just share with Ben.”  The younger looked slightly offended at the thought of sharing his food, but doubted that he could stop Kevin even if he tried.  The four sat down to eat, everyone sacrificing some of their fries to Kevin, and Ben and Gwen even splitting their burgers and nuggets with him.

 

After spending the rest of the afternoon around the city, Kevin acting tour guide, Max led the three kids back to the RV for some dinner and sleep.  On the way, Max let the kids get a slice of pizza each.  Max learned that Kevin was a little picky about how his pizza was made.  He preferred thin crust over regular, extra sauce and cheese, and he hated a lot of the toppings on the toppings list.  He claimed he liked them normally, but on pizza they were no good.  

 

Soon the pizza was gone and Kevin was propped up in the passenger’s seat.  He told Max he had trouble sleeping a lot, so he wanted to sit up front while Max drove for a while.  He wasn’t fully aware of it, but Max would occasionally glance at the boy.  Brown eyes were fixated on the scenery passing by and, if his reflection was anything to go by, it was lulling the former street rat to sleep.  Max waited for the boy’s head to droop, for his breathing to even out, before carefully reclining the seat and draping one of the spare blankets over him.

 

The Tennysons learned fairly quickly that Kevin would wake up with the sun.  The boy was rifling through the fridge and cabinets, pulling out ingredients to make breakfast.  He wasn’t very good, but it was still edible.

 

“Mm….Kevin, what’re you doing up so early?” came Gwen’s mumbled greeting as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

 

“Y’know, living on the streets of New York kinda gets your internal clock set to whenever all the business people decide to grace the road with their loud honking and cursing.  Breakfast?”

 

“Mm-hm….Sure.  Lemme just get up real quick.”  Gwen’s not-so-graceful climb down from the top bunk awoke Max.  Kevin desperately tried to keep the bacon from burning, grateful that Max stepped in and taught him some tricks on how to cook bacon properly.  The boy let Max take over plating the food, heading over to Ben and shaking his shoulder.

 

“Ben, come on, get up.  I made breakfast.”  No response.

 

“Ben.  Get up or I’ll shock you.”  Soft snoring.

 

He sighed and touched Ben’s shoulder, sending a small shock through his system.  The ten year old yelped and jumped awake, sitting up right and glaring at him.

 

“What was that for?!”

 

“I warned you.  Now get up.  Breakfast is ready.”  The boy made a face.

 

“Ugh….If it’s any of Grandpa Max’s cooking, I’ll pass.”

 

“Actually,  _ I  _ made it.  So get up and eat or I’m eating your portion.”

 

After multiple empty threats to eat Ben’s breakfast, Kevin finally managed to get him out of bed and sitting at the table.  Kevin nibbled on a piece of bacon, watching the other three for their reactions.  Max seemed to love it, although after the comment from Ben about Max’s cooking earlier, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to trust this man’s taste buds.  Gwen politely took a bite and seemed pleasantly surprised that she liked his cooking, contently eating the rest of it.  Ben seemed reluctant, and Kevin couldn’t blame him.  He lived on the street so what would he know about cooking.

 

“Oh, just eat it, you doofus.  It’s not poisonous.” Gwen snapped, causing Ben to stick his tongue out at her.  He did, however, take a bite of his food and blinked in surprise.

 

“Woah, where did you learn to cook, Kevin??”

 

“Uh, well, I liked to watch the cooks in some restaurants and diners so I picked up a few skills.”

 

“Do you know how to make anything else?” Max questioned, glancing down at the boy.

 

“No, just bacon and eggs.  I’m sure I can learn, though.”

 

After breakfast, Gwen sat up front while Kevin messed around with her laptop and Ben chattered on about Sumo Slammers, although Kevin was only half listening.  He was busy taking apart the laptop to find out how it worked, then intended to put it back together and make it run better.  Unfortunately, as he had all the pieces laid out in front of him, Ben had to speak up.

 

“Gwen!  Kevin broke your laptop!”

 

“What?!”  The girl twisted around in her seat to see, Kevin turning to face her.

 

“I’m gonna put it back together!  I swear!  In fact, I promise it’ll run better than ever after I’m done!”  The girl narrowed her eyes at him before nodding and turning to face front again.  Kevin let out a breath and began to reassemble the pieces of the laptop, biting his lip slightly as he worked.  Ben pestered Kevin as he worked, jokingly teasing him that he couldn’t make it better, Kevin retorting that Ben probably couldn’t pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel.  Gwen laughed, but Ben didn’t seem to realise how funny it was, looking even more confused when Kevin nearly fell over laughing.

  
Max smiled at the sight in the rearview mirror before his eyes flicked back to the road.  He had a feeling that bringing Kevin along was the best idea Ben’s had.


	2. The One Where Kevin Tries (and Fails) to Save the Day

 

“A circus?”  Kevin raised a brow and crossed his arms, looking at the flyer that Gwen held in front of him.  He’d never been to one before, although the clown on the flyer seemed a little sketchy to him.  Who names themselves “Zombozo” when they wanna be a clown anyway?

 

“I think it sounds like fun.  What do you say, Ben?  Wanna go to the circus?”  The boy shrugged and pouted, crossing his arms.

 

“Sure, I guess.  Let’s go.”  Ben thought that Kevin would be on his side about how dumb this was, but the older boy seemed excited to be there, wanting immediately to go into the hall of mirrors.  Max bought him tickets for it and let him run free while the Tennysons went to watch the show.

 

That clown was seriously creepy.  Ben, extremely creeped out by Zombozo, snuck out of the show and went to find Kevin.  He looked around for the boy, expecting to see him waiting around for one of them, but he was nowhere to be seen.  He shrugged and walked up to the worker at the hall of mirrors.

 

“Hey, uh, did my friend come by here?  He has black hair, kinda pale, wears a black tank top and ripped cargo shorts?”

 

“Sure.  He went in the hall of mirrors, but I guess he’s gotten lost.  Hasn’t come back out yet.  You can go in a look for him.”  Ben thanked him and walked inside, repeatedly bumping into his reflection while he tried to navigate his way through.  He blinked in confusion when he saw a reflection that definitely wasn’t his when he came up to a mirror.  The reflection reached out and touched his shoulder.

 

“Ben?  Is the show over?  Jeez, how long have I been in here?”  Kevin.

 

“Nah, the show’s not over.  I came in here to get you out.  The guy out front thinks you’re lost.”  The older boy shrugged.

 

“I already found the way out.  I just didn’t really wanna try and get inside the tent with all those people.  C’mon, it’s this way.”  He took Ben by the hand, leading him through the maze of reflections before they finally came to the exit.  When they stepped out, everything was gone.  One the ground where the tent used to be was Grandpa Max, who looked like he’d seen better days.  His body looked as if it had been drained of energy, though he was chuckling quietly to himself.

 

“Grandpa, what happened?!  Where’s Gwen?!  And the rest of the circus?!” Ben questioned, kneeling beside his grandfather.  Kevin looked around, noticing that the hall of mirrors had disappeared as well.  He turned his attention back to Ben when he heard his name being called.

 

“Kevin, help me get Grandpa back to the Rust Bucket!  Then, we’re going after Zombozo!”  The boy nodded and helped drag the old man back to the RV, laying him down and heading out with Ben.  It wasn’t really hard to find Zombozo.  He had just moved the tent somewhere else.  Inside the tent, he had Gwen attached to some machine that provided him with power to his person whenever she laughed.  As it turns out, Ben has a fear of clowns.

 

“Okay, Ben.  I need you to distract him while I find a way to shut the machine down.  Got it?”

 

“Wait, why can’t  _ I  _ shut the machine down?”

 

“It took you twenty minutes to figure out that the microwave was only unplugged, not broken.  Just distract him already!”  Kevin made a break for the machine, ducking behind it and pulling off the back panel.  It looked complicated, like nothing he’d seen before, and he didn’t think he’d have the time to try and figure out how it worked.

 

“Time for Plan B.”  He got to his feet and took a piece of sharp metal out of his pocket, sticking it in the ground and placing his foot on it gently.  He placed both hands on the machine and let out a breath, calming himself before beginning to absorb its energy.  He tried to concentrate the energy flow to his foot, but it was failing.  He was afraid that the sheer amount of energy he was absorbing would overload his body, so he attempted to stop.  He was stuck.  It wasn’t until the machine exploded, sending him flying backwards through the wall of the tent did he stop, however energy crackled to life around his body, his fingers twitching involuntarily.  Ben and Gwen rushed over to him, shouting something but he couldn’t hear them over the humming of electricity in and around his body.

 

Gwen seemed to be explaining something to Ben frantically.  He saw Ben move out of his line of sight and return with the piece of metal he had stuck into the ground earlier.  Kevin understood what Gwen wanted Ben to do.  She wanted him to stick the piece of metal into the ground and have Kevin touch it so all the electricity in his body would be conducted into the earth.  Ben stabbed the piece into the ground between Kevin’s fingers.  All he did was grasp the metal and the numb feeling was over.  Instead, the numbness gave way to pain.  He hissed and gasped as he sat up, holding his side.

 

“Kevin, are you okay?  You’re bleeding.”  He blinked and reached up, touching his forehead to find that why yes, he was bleeding.  Look at that.

 

“Uh-huh….Thanks….”  The cousins helped him to his feet, carefully supporting him.  The older boy attempted to take a step forward, but his body was still recovering from the intake and output of a large amount of energy.  He vaguely heard Ben asking him if he was alright before the darkness that had been creeping along the edges of his vision finally took hold.

 

A pounding headache and voices above him brought Kevin back into consciousness.  He let out a quiet groan, opening his eyes to see bright green staring back at him.  He blinked in surprise and placed a hand on Ben’s face, shoving him away so he could sit up.  He winced slightly as his head throbbed, placing a hand gently against his temple.  His fingers met bandage, bringing back a fuzzy memory of his head bleeding.

 

“You okay, Kevin?”

 

“Yeah, just got a major headache.”  Ben smiled slightly and handed him a couple pills and a glass of water, which he gladly took.

 

“So how’re you feeling?” Max questioned, glancing at the boy through the rearview mirror.

 

“Alright, all things considering.  Nothing too bad besides the headache.”

 

“We’re just glad you’re alright.  Try and be more careful next time, alright?”  Kevin nodded and relaxed, letting out a breath as the pain pills began taking away the pain in his head.

 

“Are we lost?  I’m pretty sure we’re lost.” Kevin mumbled, glaring out the passenger side window.  Max claimed they were on their way to a place called “Sparksville” but it seemed like they were just driving further and further into the middle of nowhere.  Kevin was getting a bit antsy from being in the RV for so long, Ben would complain that he was bored multiple times during the day, and Gwen was trying to occupy herself by reading.  It wasn’t working.

 

“We’re not lost, Kevin.  I know exactly where we’re going.”

 

“....You know, if we die out here, no one will ever know.  You know why?  CAUSE WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF FUCKING NOWHERE!”

 

“Language, Kevin!  We’re almost there, look.”  Max pointed and Kevin turned his head to look, his eyes falling on a sign.

 

Welcome to Sparksville.

 

“Grandpa, why are we here?  There’s nothing here!” Ben complained.  Kevin had immediately calmed down as soon as his feet touched the ground.  He stretched slightly and smiled a bit.  Gwen let out a breath and looked around.

 

“Looks deserted.”  She turned to speak to Max, crying out in shock when a man had appeared, a disinterested look on his face.

 

“Welcome to Sparksville.  Home of the It.”  Kevin raised a brow.

 

“It?”

 

“It is down that way.  Mind the signs.”  The trio of kids looked at each other before shrugging and heading off to where the signs were directing.  Kevin pushed open the barn doors, walking inside with Ben and Gwen.  All around them, signs repeatedly told them not to touch It, no use of electronics around It, and so on.

 

“....This is it?”  Kevin crossed his arms, unimpressed by the sight before them.  After getting passed all the signs, apparently It was a giant rubber band ball.  Gwen rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly.  Ben, with a mischievous look on his face, dialed up Fourarms on the Omnitrix.  He picked up the rubber band ball with ease, bouncing it back and forth between his hands.  Kevin chuckled and smiled widely, covering his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter.  Gwen was better at keeping her composure, though she was worried about Ben wrecking something with the ball.

 

“Okay, doofus, fun’s over.  Put it down before you break something.”

 

“Alright, alright.  Calm down.”  He gently set it down, the Omnitrix choosing to power down at that moment.

 

“See, no big deal!”  Ben leaned against the ball, blinking when it moved from its spot and crashed through the wall of the barn, nearly crushing Kevin in the process.

 

“....Uh, should we do something about that?”  The raven haired boy questioned, looking from the shocked cousins to the hole the ball had left in the barn.  Ben was already trying to dial in another alien, narrowing his eyes in concentration.  He grinned when the Omnitrix interface popped up.

 

“On it!”  Slamming his palm down, he transformed into Diamondhead, rushing after the ball and leaving Kevin and Gwen alone in the barn.  Kevin shook his head slightly and ran a hand through his hair, trudging after him.

 

“Honestly, he’s just gonna cause more trouble….” he mumbled into himself.

 

Ben had managed to stop the ball, but it had split open, releasing the small, electric alien inside.  It was causing just as much havoc as Ben himself, laughing hysterically when it would cause something bad to happen.  It even went after Kevin, zipping around him and somehow making him magnetic.  He was stuck to the metal part of a telephone pole, struggling to pull himself away and go help the Tennysons with the alien problem.  With or without him, Ben and Gwen managed to capture the alien in a huge glass fishbowl that was sitting on the top of one of Sparksville’s buildings, pulling him down afterwards and making sure he was alright.

 

“Yeah, yeah.  I’m fine.  Let’s get outta here before we break anything else.”

  
The trio hurried off to the Rust Bucket, excited for their next adventure.


	3. The One Where Everyone Nearly Dies

 

“So, why are we going to this summer camp again?” Ben asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising a brow.

 

“An old friend of mine asked me to pick up his grandson from summer camp and bring him home.”  Ben shrugged and went back to playing Go-Fish with Kevin, the latter winning by a landslide.  The duo looked up when they stopped outside the summer camp, a lone child still waiting to be picked up.

 

“Why don’t you three go and greet him?  I’m sure he’d like to meet you.”  Kevin shrugged and set down his hand, stepping out of the RV to meet the kid.  The blonde boy perked up and smiled, walking towards him.

 

“Hey!  I’m Cooper!  Cooper Daniels.  Are you a Tennyson?”

 

“Nah, I’m just their friend who’s coming along for the ride.  Name’s Kevin.  Kevin Levin.”  Cooper smiled more and shook his hand.

 

“Nice to meet you!”  Cooper blinked as he got a good look at the kid in front of him.  He noticed how pale his skin tone was, though it went well with his shaggy raven colored hair and dark brown eyes.  He looked behind him when he heard the door open and a brunette stuck his head out with a slightly annoyed look.

 

“You two coming or what?  We gotta get Cooper back home, you know!”  Kevin rolled his eyes and motioned for Cooper to follow him.

 

“That was Ben Tennyson.  A bit of a loud mouth, but he’s not so bad once you get used to him.  He also has no filter.  Whatever he’s thinking tends to come straight out of his mouth.”  After introductions were out of the way, the RV went on its way down the road.  Ben and Gwen didn’t seem so sure what to think of Cooper, but Kevin was gladly chatting with him.  Soon, the two were bonding over their love of technology and science, much to the dismay of the Tennysons.  The duo talked and talked and talked about nothing but tech and science until night fell.  Since there wasn’t enough room for five people to sleep in the RV bunks, Gwen offered to sleep up front while Ben took the top bunk and Kevin and Cooper took the bottom bunk.

 

Ben was awoken by screaming.  He sat up and looked around, blinking when he noticed that Grandpa Max was not at the wheel anymore.  Instead, Kevin was steering and Cooper was pressing the pedals for him.  Gwen was looking out the window, yelling directions to Kevin.  Max was nowhere to be seen.  Before he could ask what was going on, something hit the Rust Bucket, causing it to swerve off the road and roll down the hill.

 

Ben groaned softly and raised his head, looking around slightly.  There were two holes in the windshield, a bit of blood on the glass.  Gwen, Kevin, and Cooper were nowhere to be found.  He crawled out of the destroyed RV, shaking his head and looking around again.  His eyes widened at the sight before him.  Kevin was lying motionless on the ground, blood dripping down the side of his face and staining his shirt, leg bent at an odd angle and wrist twisted almost all the way around.  Gwen seemed to be fine and was trying to contact an ambulance, pacing around frantically.  Cooper was near Kevin, conscious but not moving.  Ben scrambled to his feet and rushed over to Kevin and Cooper, kneeling beside them and questioning Cooper.

 

“What happened?!”

 

“W-We uh….We stopped somewhere to get gas and snacks.  W-While you’re grandpa was inside paying for gas, these weird alien guys tried attacking us!  Kevin told me to press the pedals for him while he steered and Gwen kept watch for him to see how close they were getting.  I-I guess they got too close and crashed your RV….”  Ben pouted slightly and looked over at Kevin, the boy thankfully still breathing.

 

“An ambulance’ll be here soon!  Is Kevin okay?  What about Cooper?” came Gwen’s frantic voice as she hurried over to them.

 

“Um, I’m okay, but Kevin doesn’t look so good….”  The blonde nervously glanced over at the other boy, cringing slightly at the sight of his broken leg.  Gwen made sure Kevin kept breathing, moving away from him when the ambulances arrived.  Paramedics loaded the kids up, Gwen and Ben in one and Kevin and Cooper in the other.

 

“Is Kevin okay?” Ben asked, looking up at the doctor that was making sure he didn’t have major injuries.

 

“Your friend is still being treated.  We won’t know until he’s done.”  Ben pouted but nodded.  A nurse walked in and whispered something to the doctor who nodded and turned back to the boy.

 

“Kevin’s in his room now if you’d like to see him.”  The boy jumped at the chance to see him, following the nurse down the hall.  She opened the door for him and smiled, nudging him inside.  In the room, Kevin was propped up in his bed by the window, chatting quietly with Cooper, who was resting in the bed beside his.  The conversation stopped, however, when Ben walked in.  Brown eyes flicked from blue to green before looking down.

 

“So, how’re you feeling, Kevin?”  The boy in question shrugged, seeming to look anywhere but the ten year old standing in the doorway.  There was a cast on his leg and one on his wrist as well, a bandage wrapped around his head.  An awkward silence hung thick in the air, the pale boy still not speaking a word.  Cooper nervously glanced between the two boys before his voice pierced the silence.

 

“U-Um….Ben?  Can I talk to you real quick?”  The boy nodded and sat beside the blonde’s bed.

 

“Uh, Kevin’s kinda blaming himself for what happened and he’s uh….kinda blaming you for not being awake to help with the problem.  I’ll keep trying to talk to him about it, but I dunno how much I can do.”  The blue-eyed boy perked up slightly when he noticed Gwen and Max in the doorway.

 

“Are you kids alright?!  What happened?!”  For the first time since Ben entered the room, Kevin spoke up.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine.  Although we’d still have an RV if  _ somebody  _ had been awake to help with the problem.  But I think we handled it pretty well, all things considered.”  The older boy pouted and shifted slightly, focusing his gaze out the window.  Ben frowned slightly and got to his feet.

 

“Well, why didn’t you wake me up?!”  Kevin kept his gaze set on the window, but his lips turned down in a frown.

 

“Don’t you think we tried?  I’m surprised you didn’t wake up between us screaming and the sound of the blasters those aliens were using.  We gave up when you wouldn’t wake up, so we took matters into our own hands.  Some hero of the universe you are.” he stated bluntly, still not looking at him.  The green-eyed hero bared his teeth and growled, storming over to the older boy and roughly grabbing his broken wrist, pulling a cry of pain out of Kevin.

 

“Ow!  What the hell’s your problem?!  The cast is there for a reason, you dumbass!”  Ben simply tightened his grip, causing the boy to cry out more.  His cries alerted a nearby nurse who retrieved security and had Ben forcibly removed from the hospital.

 

The nurse hurried around, taking Kevin to get his arm x-rayed again.  Thankfully, his wrist didn’t suffer any more damage than it already had, so they reapplied his cast and took him back to his room.  Kevin pouted and leaned back against his pillows.  Gwen and Max were already gone, leaving him alone with Cooper.

 

“....Are you alright, Kevin?”

 

“Yeah….I’m good.  Thanks, Cooper.”  The younger remained unconvinced, but let the subject drop.

 

The boys were finally released from the hospital, although Kevin still refused to directly talk to Ben, instead using Gwen or Cooper to articulate his message to the hero.

 

“Kevin, you can’t stay mad at me forever.”  The brown-eyed boy merely leaned over and whispered something quietly into Cooper’s ear.

 

“...He said ‘Watch me’.”  Ben groaned in frustration, laying his head down in his arms and looking over at his cousin.

 

“How can I get Kevin to talk to me again?”

 

“Have you tried not being a doofus and apologizing?”

 

“What do I have to apologize for?!”

 

“For not being there when we needed you?!  And for nearly shattering the bones in his wrist?!  Stop being so self-centered for once and think about what other people feel!”  She huffed and stormed up to the front seat, sitting down with her book.  Ben pouted and glanced at Cooper who simply shook his head quickly and hurried to the back of the RV, leaving him alone with Kevin, the latter typing quickly on Gwen’s laptop.  Silence fell over the occupants of the Rustbucket, the tension thick between the two boys sitting at the booth.

 

“....Uhm….Kevin?  I know you’re not talking to me or anything….and I still kinda think you’re overreacting, but I….I’m sorry, okay?  I should have been awake to help you guys and I shouldn’t have grabbed your broken wrist in the hospital.  I was just so mad that you were blaming me for everything going wrong and I didn’t mean to take it out on you.  I’m sorry.”

 

Kevin stayed quiet for what felt like an eternity, his fingers still flying across the keyboard before they slowed to a stop.  Placing his palms against the edge of the laptop, he shoved it towards the younger and leaned back.  Ben blinked and turned the laptop around, his eyes widening at the contents of the screen.  Kevin had downloaded a coding system and had written a code that made the same two messages appear on screen.

 

_ You’re a complete idiot…. _

_ But I forgive you. _

 

Ben glanced up at Kevin, smiling slightly when he caught the hint of pink on the boy’s cheeks and the small smile that played at the corner of his lips.

  
He knew Kevin couldn’t stay mad at him for long.


	4. The One Where Kevin Finds Out

“Aw, c’mon, Cooper!  Do you gotta go?”  The group finally made it to Cooper’s grandfather’s house, but Kevin seemed reluctant to let the boy leave.  He and Cooper had a lot in common and he didn’t want his newfound friend to leave just yet.

 

“Yeah, sorry….B-But here!  I’ll give you my number and we can talk even though we’re not together!”  Kevin and Cooper had bought the older boy a cellphone with the money they had between them, Cooper using his allowance and Kevin using money he kept hidden in his pockets and boots.  The blonde quickly typed his number in before handing it back.

 

“I’ll talk to you later, Kev!  See ya!”  Cooper waved and smiled before hurrying inside with his stuff, waving once more before shutting the door.  Kevin pouted and turned around to head back to the RV, shoving his phone in his pocket.  Ben smirked at the boy when he returned.

 

“Missing your boyfriend already, Kev?” he teased, sticking his tongue out and yelping when Kevin smacked him upside the head, sitting across from him and pulling the laptop over to him.

 

“Ah, shut up, Ben.  I don’t have anyone to talk about tech stuff anymore.”

 

“Why won’t you talk to me about it?”

 

“Cause you can’t even figure out how to fix the microwave when it’s clearly unplugged.”  He rolled his eyes, not glancing up at the hero as he began typing away.  Ben pouted slightly and huffed, leaning his chin into his palm.

 

“Why’re you so moody most of the time?  I mean, you’ve got your moments where you’re all smiles and stuff, but a lot of the time, you’re really moody and pouty.  How come?”  Pale fingers halted, hovering over the keys, shoulders tensing ever so slightly.  Ben blinked and tilted his head.

 

“Kevin?  You okay?”  The older boy didn’t respond at first, simply staring at the screen for what seemed like forever before he went back to typing, albeit at a slower pace than normal.

 

“Yeah….I’m fine….Don’t worry about it, yeah?”  Kevin shrugged and continued to type, although he seemed to be distracted, brown eyes half-lidded and holding a far-away type look.  Ben narrowed his eyes slightly at him, but let the subject drop and turned his attention back to his video game.  Gwen, who’d been listening to the entire conversation, twisted around in her seat and stared at the back of Kevin’s head.

 

“W-What do you mean we’re heading back to Bellwood?  What am I supposed to do?  Go back to New York?”  Max shook his head quickly and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

 

“Of course not.  I have a place you can stay until you’re old enough to be on your own.  I think you’ll like it.”  Kevin pouted, but nodded, grabbing his bag of food and his drink, and climbing back onto the RV.  He sat up front, nibbling on his fries and leaning back slightly in his seat, gaze set out the window as they pulled away from the fast food joint.

 

“I think you’ll like it in Bellwood, Kev!  It might be a nice change from how busy New York is!”  The brown eyed boy glanced at his friend and nodded slightly, mouth stuffed with fries.  It didn’t take long for them to reach Bellwood, Kevin immediately noticed that it seemed to be a quiet town, a much nicer scene compared to the hustle and bustle of the city.  They pulled up to one house in particular, Kevin blinking in surprise when Ben hopped up and grabbed his stuff, hurrying off the RV and towards the house.  Once Max was sure the boy was inside, he drove to another house where Gwen got off, bidding the two goodbye.

 

“Alright, so where am I gonna stay?”

 

“You’ll see.  And it’s not too far from where Ben and Gwen live so you’ll get to see them often.”  Max drove into town and parked outside a shop labeled “Max’s Plumbing”.  The duo stepped out of the RV, a backpack slung across Kevin’s shoulder as they headed inside the store.  Max nudged the boy towards the bathroom, smiling and ruffling his hair as he pulled the handle to flush, sending the two down into an elevator.

 

“Woah….There’s a plumber base beneath Bellwood?”

 

“Of course.  How do you think we protected this town before Ben found the omnitrix?”  The elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal an active Plumber hub, agents scrambling around and trying to get work done.  Kevin stepped out of the elevator, eyes wide as he looked around.  He let himself be led around, mumbling his name when he was asked and vaguely hearing Max state that he’d be staying here for a while.  Wait….what?

 

“Wait, when you said you had somewhere I could stay, you meant  _ here _ ?!”  Max nodded and smiled, leading the boy to one of their spare rooms.

 

“You’ll be staying in this room.  If you’d like to work with any tech we have laying around, you may, and if you need anything just ask someone and we’ll see what we can do.”  Kevin nodded and smiled, setting his bag down at the foot of his bed and looking around his new room.  Max smiled and ruffled his hair again before leaving him alone to take in his surroundings.  He flopped onto his bed and grinned, immediately texting Cooper about his new room, going back and forth with him before a knock was heard.  He stood and answered, blinking when he saw an alien in a lab coat standing there.

 

“Hello, you must be young Kevin.  I’ve come to just give you a quick physical and mental evaluation for Plumber records.  Is that alright?”

 

“Yeah, sure.  No problem.”  He smiled slightly and followed the doctor down the hall and to an evaluation room.  They recorded his height, weight (“A little underweight for your age, but we can fix that.”), basic information, and pretty much anything done at a normal doctor’s visit.  When the mental evaluation came up, he was asked question after question for the longest time before being let go.  His results wouldn’t be ready for quite some time so he ventured around the plumber base, blinking when he found a lab.  He grinned and stepped inside, observing a few of the machines that were laying around, eyes bright and curious.  A lab assistant found him sitting cross-legged on the floor, notebook to his right and a disassembled machine in front of him, notes scribbled in surprisingly neat handwriting in the notebook.

 

“Kevin Levin?”  He jolted slightly and dropped the piece in his hand, scrambling to his feet.

 

“Y-Yes?”

 

“The results from your mental evaluation came back.”  He nodded and hurried after her as she left, lightly chewing the inside of his cheek.  She handed him a folder once they arrived, the boy flipping it open and reading his results, eyes widening.

 

“Y-you mean I’m….”

 

“Yes, it’s true.  We’re prescribing you some medication to help, but only time will tell if you’re mental health does improve.”

 

He nodded dumbly and stared at the paper, clutching it with a white-knuckled grip.  He had his suspicions, but….

  
He never thought they’d be true.


	5. The One Where Kevin Tells The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe people actually like this story~!  
> Thanks a lot, you guys are giving me the motivation to continue this~!

5 Years Later….

 

Kevin Levin: 16 Years Old

Ben and Gwen Tennyson: 15 Years Old

Cooper Daniels: 14 Years Old

 

“Aw, c’mon, grandpa!  Are you sure you haven’t seen Kevin  _ anywhere _ ?  He’s been missing for almost two years now!”  Ben pouted and crossed his arms, glaring up at his grandfather who only chuckled.

 

“Now, now Ben.  While I haven’t seen Kevin in a while, he may just want to be alone for a while.  You know he gets like that sometimes.  Especially after he got his apartment above that old garage.”  Ben huffed and opened his mouth to speak when his eyes caught movement behind Max.  Kevin was walking out of an auto shop, bag in one hand and phone pressed against his ear with the other.  He hadn’t noticed the two Tennysons just yet, seeming to be completely occupied with whoever he was talking on the phone with.

 

“Yeah, yeah, Cooper, I get it.  Family shit, but you told me that his weekend you’d definitely be coming over to help out with that project I’m doing….No, you can’t just keep blowing me off like this!  Are you trying to avoid me?....Alright, alright, if you can get away from your family long enough you’ll come down, I get it….Yeah, I’ll talk to you later, man, bye.”  He hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket, freezing when he finally seemed to realize who was standing nearby.

 

“....Kevin?  Where have you been, dude?”  The older teen nervously glanced from Ben to Max and back again.

 

“Still in town, why do you ask?  I haven’t left, you know.”

 

“I know, but you haven’t spoken to either Gwen or me for almost two years!”

 

“Wow, it’s been that long, seriously?  Okay, I guess I’ve kinda been wanting some alone time, but y’know why don’t we go out and get something to eat?”  Ben perked up and grinned, grabbing the teen’s wrist to prevent him from escaping.

 

“Great!  I’ll call Gwen and tell her to meet us at Mister Smoothie!”  Kevin gagged, but didn’t resist as he was pulled in the direction of the nearest Mister Smoothie.

 

“So, Kevin, where’ve you been?” Gwen questioned, nibbling on a stray fry.

 

“I mean, I’ve still been in town, but I’ve just wanted some alone time.  I didn’t realize I’d gone two years without talking to you guys.  Got caught up in some work for the Plumbers and for myself.”

 

“Is it that project you’re working on with Cooper?”  Kevin glanced at the hero, narrowing his eyes slightly.

 

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to eavesdrop?”  Ben simply smirked and stuck his tongue out.

 

“But yeah, we’re working on a project together.  You don’t need to know the boring details of it.”

 

“Aw, but now I wanna know!”

 

“Too bad, I’m not telling you.”  Gwen glanced at Kevin, letting out a breath.

 

“You’ve been acting odd ever since you got those results back from your evaluation five years ago.  You’ll suddenly stop talking to us, disappear for a while, then come back like nothing ever happened and you’d been here the whole time.”  Ben nodded his agreement.

 

“Yeah, you  _ have  _ been weird lately.  What happened to the Kevin before the evaluation?”  Kevin went quiet, fists clenching on his lap as he bowed his head.  The two cousins glanced at each other before looking back at their friend.

 

“Kevin….?”  The teen didn’t respond, instead standing and walking off without a word.  The duo followed him down the road and to his apartment where Ben grabbed his wrist.

 

“See?  This is what we mean!  Now you’re probably gonna ignore us for a couple months then suddenly go back to talking to us like nothing happened!  I dunno about Gwen, but I want the old Kevin back!”  The older teen gritted his teeth and yanked his wrist out of Ben’s grasp, turning to face him with a glare.

 

“The  _ old  _ Kevin?!  Here’s a newsflash, Benny, there never was an old Kevin!  You know why?!  Because I’ve got chronic depression and anxiety, and I’ve had it for my entire life!  I’ve never known myself before depression which is sad because I don’t have a plan for the future!  If  _ you two _ hadn’t come along when you did, we wouldn’t be here to have this conversation!  You’d be living here happily and  _ I’d  _ be in the nearest cemetery in New York!  Not because anyone killed me, but because I offed myself!  There is no old Kevin!  There’s only this one who keeps secrets and emotions bottled up for way too long before exploding!”  And with that, the teen stormed inside and slammed the door shut, the soft click of the lock signalling that Kevin wanted to be left alone.

 

“Kevin’s depressed….?” Ben mumbled quietly, still trying to process everything he’d just heard.

 

“He would’ve killed himself if we hadn’t come along that summer….!” Gwen gasped softly, tears in her eyes.  The sound of gravel crunching behind her caused her to turn, eyes widening as Cooper rushed past her and quickly knocked on the door three times.  The door was unlocked and opened immediately after the last knock, the blonde boy hurrying inside and shutting the door behind him.

 

“....Was that….Cooper?”  The green-eyed cousins stared at the door for what seemed like too long before it finally swung open again and Cooper stormed over to Ben, grabbing the front of his jacket.

 

“What is your problem, Tennyson?!  Do you ever think before you speak?!  He was actually starting to get better and now all that hard work has gone down the drain because  _ you  _ had to say something stupid about something you don’t understand!”

 

“I  _ know  _ I messed up, Cooper!  How can I make it up to him?”  The blonde released his jacket and hummed.

 

“Well, I supposed you could help me out with our project….Lately, he hasn’t really had to motivation to finish it, but maybe with the two of you helping, we’ll finish it for him.  Come on, it’s in his garage.”  He motioned for the two to follow him, the boy opening up the garage.  He pulled the tarp off of their project, revealing the frame of a car.

 

“Now there’s no guarantee that this’ll have him forgive you, but you’ll most likely get on his good side.  Since he’s not gonna socialize with anyone for a while, this’ll work out perfect.  I’ve got some new parts for it, so let’s get to work.”  Cooper grinned and tossed them gloves and safety glasses, laying out the plans for the car.  Hours passed before Cooper finally took off his gloves.

 

“You guys head home.  I’m gonna make sure Kevin eats something that isn’t a pack of poptarts and work a little longer.  See you guys tomorrow.”  Cooper watched them leave before heading up to Kevin’s apartment, letting himself in and looking around.  He let out a breath and dug around Kevin’s fridge, making a simple sandwich and placing the plate on the coffee table in front of the older teen.

 

“Eat something then get some rest.  I’ll be back tomorrow, alright?”  No response.  Of course.  He sighed and shook his head, leaving him be and heading off to work on the car a bit more.

 

It took a little longer than Cooper originally thought to complete this project, but the trio finally finished, right down to the toxic green paint job Kevin wanted down, black racing stripes breaking through the green.  Ben let out a breath and smiled, tossing his gloves onto the workbench.

 

“Alright, you and Gwen wait here.  I’ll go see if I can drag him out of bed long enough to come down and see the finished product.”  Cooper grinned slightly and hurried into the apartment, grabbing a pack of poptarts and tossing them at the lump of blankets on the bed.

 

“Get up, I have something to show you.”  The lump groaned in response, pulling the poptart package into the blankets and going quiet again.  He sighed and grabbed the blankets, yanking them off the bed and to the ground.  Kevin groaned softly again, tangled in his sheets and blankets.  He pouted and looked up at Cooper who narrowed his eyes at him.

 

“Get up and dressed, take your meds, and come down to the garage.”

 

“What about my poptarts?”

 

“Eat ‘em on the way down.  Let’s go.”  The older teen sighed, but complied and untangled himself, changing into clean clothes and quickly taking his meds.  Cooper nearly dragged him down to the garage, a poptart hanging out of the raven haired teen’s mouth.  Kevin took one look inside the garage and quickly tried to leave, not wanting to see Ben at the moment.

 

“Get back here!”  Cooper shoved him into the garage and shut the door.

 

“I didn’t drag you down here to get you to talk to Ben, I dragged you here to show you  _ this _ .”  He pulled the tarp away, displaying the fully finished car in all its glory.  Kevin’s eyes widened and he nearly choked on a piece of poptart.

 

“It’s exactly how you wanted it, save for a few extra features we thought would be helpful.  Ben and Gwen helped me finish it since you didn’t seem to be motivated.”  He didn’t respond, stepping forward and reaching out to run his fingers lightly across the hood of the car.  It was the exact model he wanted, the exact shade of green, everything.  He paused, hand hovering over the driver’s side handle.

 

“...Do you guys wanna go for a ride?” He finally asked, smiling slightly when he was tossed the keys and everyone clambered into the car.  Once the garage doors were opened, he sped out, Cooper seeming to be unaffected by his reckless style of driving, but Ben and Gwen were clinging to the seats in fear.  He drove and drove down a long stretch of road that led out into a desert.  A quick glance in the rearview mirror from Ben showed that Kevin was enjoying himself, if the wide grin on his face was anything to go by.  After what seemed like forever, he pulled over to the side of the road and got out, stretching slightly, his grin still present.

 

“Well that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time!  It was nice to be able to drive around like this.”  He turned to look at Ben, smiling slightly.

 

“Look, I know you didn’t mean to be a huge asshole about it, but I forgive you.  Just….next time I vanish off the face of the earth, try checking at my apartment or asking Cooper if he’s seen me.  If you just remind me to talk to you guys once in awhile, we probably won’t have this problem again.”  Ben stared at the older teen who was now smiling at him like nothing happened.  He assumed that this was his way of dealing with his depression.  Disappear for a while only to come back and pretend he’d been there the entire time.

 

“Alright, Kev, your car’s finished.  Can you quit bugging me about coming over every weekend now?”

 

“Hey, I’m not the one who’d say he was gonna show up then call last minute to tell me he’s not.  ‘Sides, I thought you liked hanging out with me.”  Cooper pouted and crossed his arms, looking off to the side.  “Aw, c’mon, Cooper!”

 

“Alright, I’ll hang out for today, but I seriously can’t hang out for the rest of the weekend.”

 

“Great!  Let’s go to the movies.  We haven’t done that in a while.”  The four teens piled back into the car, Kevin dropping Gwen and Ben off at their homes before driving to the movies with Cooper.

 

“Kev, how much longer are you gonna keep this up?  You need actual help!”  The blonde pleaded with the older boy, crossing his arms across his chest.  Kevin merely looked off to the side, nibbling on his lower lip.

 

“I don’t need help, Cooper….I’m doing just fine on my own.  I swear, I’m starting to get better, just give me more time.  Something like this just doesn’t go away overnight, y’know.”

 

“I know, Kev, I just….”  A defeated sigh.  “Would you please just talk to Ben and Gwen when you have these episodes of yours?  I’m sure if you let them, they can help you out.”

  
“I’ll try….”


End file.
